Maggie Alderson

You may have to suffer to be beautiful (bikini waxes, dermal abrasion, Enya whale music, etc) but you don't have to suffer to be chic.

Here's Naomi Watts not so much walking the red carpet as strolling it. She looks so great - and so relaxed.

Of course, it's easy to feel chilled when you go out in your pyjamas, as anyone who has ever slipped barefoot and be-trackie-dakked to the corner shop will know. The miracle is to feel that laid-back and look this good. That's the magic of the fashion pyjama.

I haven't got the full pair as Ms Watts has here, with a gorgeous peachy/cafe au lait shade of silk, but I have created a pyjama ensemble with a geometric PJ pant from darling Zara and a big old black satin number I've had since the first time Equipment shirts were the go. It works for me. Indeed, it's so easy and slinky, I find it hard to wear anything else for evening dress-ups just now. And with a chic flat patent slide, it was the perfect answer for a very hot day in Brisbane last time I was there.

Naomi has smartly paired her PJs with a very high sandal (which escapes my clompy-shoe fatwa because it's open toed, not a cliche pump), but the addition that really makes this look tick is the white jacket.

A black tux-style number would have looked great too - I've worn just such a thing over my pretend glamour PJs - but the white one is a knockout because it's so unexpected.

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So that's all good, but the really key detail is the way Naomi has styled the jacket, with the sleeves pushed up Miami Vice-style and one - and it is just the one - side of the collar flipped up.

This shows real understanding that choosing nice bits of clothing isn't enough on its own to look chic. You could buy the whole stock of a Lanvin boutique (and when I win the lottery, I will) and still not look chic. You have to know how to beat the clothes into submission.

A white jacket is one of those garments that can all too easily look uncomfortably formal. Wearing one exactly as it comes out of the shopping bag can make you look like an old-school waiter or a naval officer in full dress uniform. By messing it up a bit, it becomes your white jacket, not a white jacket. Part of you.

This is something I'm always trying to instil in my daughter as she runs out the door; how quirky little adjustments, such as one jacket button left undone, a collar flipped up, a jacket sleeve rolled, a shirt sleeve left unbuttoned and dangling slightly beneath the pushed up arm of a sweater, even one trouser leg rolled up just a little higher than the other, can transform an outfit from meh to mega.

She undoes it all the minute I'm not looking, of course.

But Naomi has clearly picked up all those tricks along the way, including the transforming effect of a pair of dangly earrings with tailoring. Hers are the sort that you would associate with a wafting summer frock with a bit of a hippy feel - which is exactly why they look so perfect with something that's entirely different.

Then there are the final anchoring details. A very sleek, geometric minaudiere clutch in silver metallic, contrasting with her gold bangles and earrings in the same warm/cool ratio as the peach PJs and the white jacket and sandals.

The perfect finishing touches? The gorgeous red lips and the smile that says it all: I know I look great and I feel great too.